It is Spring at National Botany Park

It was only 32km and 30 minute drive from my house but it took me slightly more than 20 years to come back to that beautiful place since the last time I’d been there. It was during my ‘teropong iman’ time we visited that place doing countless field works learning on the diversity of our fauna and flora . Since then that place had change a lot not only in his name but also its surrounding landscape. When it was first opened in 1986, this place was known as Taman Pertanian Bkt Cerakah, then somebody changed it to Taman Pertanian Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam and now to make it sounds more trendy, it is officially known as Taman Botani Negara.

Something never change though. It was my feeling and liking toward that place. I am in my domain again. The air was fresher and my spirit was uplifted by the lush green scenery of splendid tropical rainforest that surround the area. From my observation the park management had effortlessly trying very hard to preserve its natural beauty. Even though there were many development took place in and around the park, once we enter the park the feeling of being isolated from the outside world started to kick in. Blissfully serene.

Unlike many other parks or other tourist attraction in the Klang Valley, the entrance fee to this park is very acceptable and affordable. It seems inflation has not yet attracted to this place and greed has not yet smeared this tourist spot. For adult (above 12) it was RM3.00 and kids (4-11yrs) RM1.00. Quite a bargain isn’t it.

You can spend one whole day in this park with the whole family. There are many new attractions too. The ever popular four season house didn’t let me down with its temperate setting. It is Spring now. For a nominal fee (similar to the entrance fee) you don’t have to go to temperate countries to experience the four seasons but you can experience how the four seasons look like or how the temperature is inside this house. My kids really enjoyed this experience. Two of my boys never had this experience before as they were born here in our blazing Bolehland. So I promised them to come again to the place during the Winter.

Other attraction was a paddy field, cocoa trees, oil palm, rubber trees, coffee, coconut and other fruit trees. And there were many gardens in this park which were the Spice Garden, Ornamental Garden, Orchid Garden, Cactus Garden, Bamboo Garden and Mushroom Garden. There were mini zoo too with range of animals that rival our Zoo negara.

The park also provided mountain bikes (for a fee) to those who has good stamina and want to explore the park by themselves. Upon persuasion by my kids, I rented 4 bikes and tackled the hilly path with exhaustion. It took only 30 minutes for me to surrender. People like me who has already passed my prime were best to take a free shuttle bus for a 15 minutes joy ride around the park. The latest attraction to the park was Skytrex adventure, but I didn’t go there as my energy had by this time drained out.

The outing was an enjoyable one for everybody. I will definitely go there again with my family and sample more exciting thing, the one that we missed during this visit.

The setting, vegetation, other props and temperature (13 degree Celsius) in this four season house looks very real and so cool.

These canoes lying idle in a small lake full of lotus I assumed can be rented, but I didn’t see any counter nearby for that purpose that day.

I’ve just realized that day that all my kids had no live experience with paddy field before in their entire life. So they were quite fascinated with the fields and their surrounding and excited to have their first opportunity.

Close to the paddy field there was this ancient tools used in the past (and probably still used in the present day as well in some remote paddy-growing region) to process paddy put on display. Notice the floor to this exhibition hut really need some attention by this park maintenance team.

My kid trying to balance himself and walk with cautious while crossing this hanging bridge.

Thess deers are part of the many animals you can find in that park. There are porcupines, horses, many kinds of birds (one particular cockatoo here is quite noisy and very talkative), peacocks etc. Monkeys roam freely in this jungle.

The park provides shuttle service FOC for the visitors to go around the park. The shuttle will stop to drop and pick up visitors from many designated stops.

This weird looking cage is a place where you can find four peacocks inside it. The look really resembles a bacteriophage T4 .

I’ve seen typical photos of this spot printed somewhere but couldn’t figure out where. Now I know the place (If my memory served me right, originally this spot was a pond). This is my last photo I managed to capture as my camera battery went kaput. This never happened to me before as I always checked my camera battery status or always bring extra battery or making sure the camera is fully charged.

Dr.,I was there when Bukit Cherakah was still in its early days. We crossed the highway which is still in the making to get there.I went for this program for schools to experience the padi field right from planting until harvesting in one day. Cool. Got my self covered in mud but it was great experience. Even went into this tunnel made during WW2.The second time I went, konon2nya as a tour guide for my class since I've been there before, we got lost and ended up in a kampung orang asli. Luckily, the whole class was cool about the whole thing.Is there still a kampung orang asli in Bukit Cherakah?

Salam DrSam :-DWonder when they made those changes. The last time we were there, it was still called Taman Pertanian Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam and it is not berseri at all though we were made to understand that improvement projects on the way.Actually this park is about "a few inches" away from where I resided. A wonderful development done there! Well, it reminds me of Biology – it does look like Bacteriophage T4 – the simplest form of virus? Was it? Something like between supra molecular complexes and simple biological entities?Well, 30 minutes uphill by bike is quite a something for someone who has passed his prime, I supposed!😀

Assalamu'alaikum Ganukite,thank you for this; so splendid in both text and pictures.The rice dehusking "lesong kaki" reminds of the old gone by kampongs days when the "sawah" was my playing field, carrying home sacks of freshly-threshed wet padi over my shoulder on slippery mud bunds was my exercise at weight-lifting and chowing down rice with fried pekasam sepat in the pondok in the midle of the sawah was my picnic. All these reminds me of a quote by famed author Pearl S Buck who said "Many people lose the small joys, in hope of the big happiness"How I miss those wonderful growing up years!!Warm regards to all,Abdul Halim Hassan(Many people lose the small joys, in hope for

ashley,Bangi pun bukan jauh sangat. If you feel like to stopover at my house for a cuppa en route to that place, you are most welcome!3yearshousewife,Wow…A WW2 tunnel? I didn't realize its existence until you mentioned it. Will look out for that in the next visit.I don't think there is kampung orang asli anymore in Bkt Cerakah. If I am not mistaken, the state gov. relocated them somewhere not far from Sg. Buloh Tol not so long ago. You surely had a good adventure there. Abd Razak,Salam. Insyaalah ada rezeki dapatlah melawat tempat itu suatu hari nanti.

adiwarnatasya,melihat kecantikan dengan mata hati, melihat kebesaranNYA dimana-mana.wyograd,WSM En. Halim. I am sure you had built enough bicep and six pack abs during those days. I remember when I was a small kid, my grandmother used to pound the newly-harvested paddy to make 'emping'. We eat them after mixing with sugar. nice taste, sweet smell. Blissful.annfrendly,Betul tu. Kena datang pagi-pagi supaya tak beratur panjang. terutama kalau nak naik shuttle bus. life is a beautiful lyric,Skytrex will surely be in our itinerary the next visit.If the bicycle trek is flat, that probably should not be a problem. Otherwise…pancit!

Salam Doc,I've never been to this place. I thought Bukit Cerakah became an abandoned project some time back.Thanks for the update. Now that I'm in the Klang Valley, will try to explore this place soon.

denaihati,sama lah kita. kali terkahir pergi zaman teropong iman dulu-dulu.Oldstock,Salam. Bkt Cerakah was once became a hot topic in our local news for its over-developed surrounding. The place is really good for a family weekend outing.Faisal Admar,I know what you meant Faisal. Can't imagine what kind of monster lurking deep under that dark water,waiting to ambush their victim.

Salam doc, how are you? The last time I went to this place was more than 10 years ago… it was a date with my hubby (then bf). We rented the bikes and explored the place. I remember very well that I was so exhausted and hungry after the bike ride that I finished a whole super burger at lunchtime. If you know me, you'll find that I'm not a big eater so that was quite an accomplishment! Didn't know the name has been changed twice and thanks to you, it looks like a place worth taking my kids to. I'm running out of ideas on how to tear them away from tv and gameboys…